PowerPoint vulnerability exploit

by Nikola Strahija on July 13th, 2006Hackers have grown to love Office products. Microsoft presentation program has a serious vulnerability which hackers have used on at least one occasion, Symantec warns.

Security researchers at Symantec have recently discovered a hacker attack directed solely to exploit an unpatched Microsoft PowerPoint vulnerability. The exploit is similar to those using Word and Excel flaws, so security experts think all three attacking methods are work o the same group of malicious attackers.

As Symantec reported, the attack is expedited by sending the victim an e-mail with the attached PowerPoint file. Once the user clicks on the attachment, a Trojan horse program and a backdoor program get installed. The malicious pieces of code also try to hide its presence on the machine, while awaiting directions from evildoers.

This vulnerability stays unpatched while Redmond is investigating the problem.